Portioning mechanism



STATES PATENT OFFICE. lntnnnnnrw. HoDeDoN, or rrrrssnaemnND HENRY e. eILEs, or ueeANnLnss TOWNSHIP, ALLEGHENY eoUN'rY, PENNSYLVANIA; sA-In arms AssreNon ro SAID HODGDON.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that we, HERBERT W. HononoN and HENRY GnUqILns, citizens of the iid United States, and residin respectively, in the city of Pittsburgh an in the township of Mctffandless, in the county ot' Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discoveredI new and useful Im rovements in Pcrtioning Mechanism, of which the following `is a specification. l

Thel invention consists in certain new and useful improvements vin machines for dis'- pensin portions of substances, such as portions o butter for individual customers.

The dispensing machine, which is the subject of this application, is intended for use in restaurants and hotels Where larve quantities of butter are used and it is desirable to serve the individual customers in an economical and sanitary manner.

More particularly the present invention comprises improvements in the means vfor severing the individual ortions and in the means or discharging t e severed portions from the machine.

@ther novel features of construction and arrangement or parts will appear from the following description.

n ln the accompanying drawings, which are intended to illustrate the principles of the present invention Figure 1 is a vertical section of the improved machine taken' along the line I-I in Fi 2; Fig. 2 is a broken front elevation of t e machine, and Fig. 3 is a perspective showing the bottom view of Vone ci the blade carriages.

'The following is a detailed description of the drawings: l

A represents one or more boxes, open at its ends and of an .desired cross sectional shape. Thus if the utter or individual. portions are to be square or round the cross sectional shape of the box corresponds thereto, so that a slab of butter of the proper cross 'sectional shape to form the desired pat will fit in the box., B is an outer container hav-l ing a closed end-and wholl or artially surrounding the' boxes A. he xes'A and the container B- may be' conveniently cast integrali of `metal.

Y 1 is a id for the container B whichalso` closes the end of the boxes A and is providedw. witha hole2 in alinement with the axis of each of'said boxes. 3 is a cord extending down througheach of said holes and having Specification of Letters Patent. Application led August 23, 1918. Serial- No.

`open end of the box served. In the forward PORTIONING MEGHANIBM.

-Paten'ted Mar. 23,1920.

attached to its inner end a wei ht 4 which rests upon the slab of butter in t ebox, thus insuring its proper intermittent descent in the box as its butt is severed into individual portions. The weight arrangement is of course used only Where the` boxes are vertical or set at an incline. .l

The ends of the boxes A open through .the closed end of the container B, as shown inFig. 1, and the container is provided with slideways 5 running from front to rear, and one of said slideways intersecting the open end of each box. In each of said slideways is mounted a movable carriageor frame-6 provided with a forwardly vextending stem or handle 7 whichv protrudes from the front of the machine. '8 1s a keeper plate for each carriage, having transverse slots 9 near each end enga ed by screws 10 which engage threaded cles m the front of the machine. At its center, the plate 9 is rcvided with a slot llextending mwardly rom the bottom edge of the kee er plate. When the screws 10 are loosene the lkeeper plate maybe raised and the carriage 6 may be with drawn from the slideway, but when the plate is dropped with the slot 11 straddlin .the stem 7 and the screws 10 are tightens the carriage cannot be withdrawn but its forward movement in relation .to the machine is limited by the keeper late. The*- vvcarriage is normally held in its orward p0- vsition against the keeper plate by means of back along. the slideway,-the` spring must be compressed.

15 is the s acingblade mounted in the carriage in suc a position that when the carriage is in its forward position, the butt of the slab of butter in the corresponding box A is supported by or seats against said blade. The spacing blade is spaced away from the a distance equal to the thickness of the portion 'ofV butter to be portion of the. carriage a slicing blade 16 1s mounted snu ly up against vthe end of the container. he

vrear or cutting edge oi said blade has its 'inner face straight ,while its outer face is beveled at an acuteangle as 'shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the beve1 ending in a transverse' anfrom the container bottom. A helii gular shoulder 17. The two .blades 15 and 16 preferably1 overlap slightly as shown in Fig., 1. 18 1s a stop block` extend-in from the container B in the path of the bla e 16 to limit the inward movement of the carriage, the front edge of the block being notched, as

i at 19 to prevent injury to the cutting edge.

which has been placed in alinement with the ter slabs in each-box, the container is filled` box A, and 22 represents an individual pat or rtion of butter which has been severed anrleposited upon said plate 21 by the machine.

C represents a slab of butter of proper cross section to fit the box A, the weight 4' resting upon the top end ofsaid slab.

The operation of the im roved machine is. as follows: In each of the oxes A is placed a slab C of butter whosebutt protrudes from the lower end of the box and is su ported by the" spacing blade A 15. T e Weights @Lv are let down on top of the butwith cracked ice or other refrigerant, and the lid 1 is put in position.

:When a waitressdesires to serve a cus-4 tomer with butter, she places a butter plate beneath one of the boxes A and pushes the corres onding stem 7 inwardly until the car.-A ria'ge 1s halted. by the sto block 18. The

result is that the slicing b ade 1,6 is forced through the protruding butt of the butter slab close up against the bottom of the box A, thus severing the desired portion which falls down on to the waiting butter plate, The beveled andshouldered cutting edge of the slicing blade prevents the severed at from stic ing to the under side of the s icing blade and the stop block 18 also strikes against the rear ed of the pat should it fail to properly fa l, thus knocking it loose. As soon as the waitress releases the stem 7 the spring throws the carblade 1'6 out from beneath the slab of butter and permittin said slab to descend in the box until its utt again rests upon and is supported by the spacingblade 15 which has again'- advanced into its first described position. The shield 2O prevents the severed portion from being thrown forwardly from under the machine and directs it down.

wardlyito the waiting plate.

In the embodiment of the machine shown in the drawings', the boxes A are vertical, so that gravity is used to cause the intermittent movement of the slabs after each severing operation, but it will be underresem stood'that the plane of the boxes is not patsby the waitress being involved. Great.

economy both in butter and in the waitresss time is effected.

The machine may be readily taken apart and cleansed at frequent intervals. Its construction is simple, inex nsive and comprises no parts whlch wil easily wear out or becom broken even by careless use.

4What I desire to claim is 1. Ina dispensing machine of the character described the combination of a box havin an open end and adapted to contain a bloc of butter, 'a carriage slidable transversely o f the open end of said box and having mounted therein a supporting plate, adapted to support the block of butter when the carriage is in its normal position, a slicin v blade mounted in said carriage, and provided with a cutting edge which is adapted to cut-through'the butt of said block of butter when the carriage is moved out of its normal position, and a beveled block ri idly secured to the box with its forward e ge spaced from the bottom of said box and. in alinementwith one wall of the opening therethrou h, the cutting ed e of said slicin blade a apted when move to be receive between the block and the bottom of the box thereby limiting the cutting move-- 4ment thereof, said block also constituting a backing for the block of butter during the cutting operation. f

2. In a dispensing machine of the character described the combination of a box havin an open end and adapted to contain a bloc of butter, a carriage slidable transversely of the oplen end of said box and havin mounted t erein a supporting plate, adpted to support the block of butter when the carriage is 1n its normal position, a slicing blade mounted in said carriage and provi ed with a cutting edge which is adapted to cut through the butt of said block 'of butter when the carriage is moved out of its normal position, and a stop block rigidly secured to the bottom of the box adjacent the opening therethrou h to limit the cutting movement of the the path of said slicing blade an slotted to admit the cutting edge of the latter, said block also constituting a backing for the material to be cut.

Signed at Pittsburgh, Pa., this 22nd day of August, 1918.

` HERBERT W. HODGDON.

HENRY G. GILES.

lade de ending in 

